Departure from France, First Day in India

Tuesday, 5th August – Wednesday, 6th August.

We left for India today. The morning was full of packing and last-minute errands: searching for hospitality gifts for Nusha's family, buying envelopes to mail important letters before leaving, etc. The airport itself was fine—we had ticket troubles at the self check-in, so we went to the counter to talk to a very friendly guy. Checked in, bought chocolates and caramels because we hadn't found any gifts earlier, got in line (waited a long time) at security, and then had to switch gates. Once inside, we waited and watched people play video games at the terminal.

The flight itself was decent, a quick hop to Heathrow (a nice man switched seats so we could sit together) with a long drive between terminals, a short wait, shopping, and then eight to nine hours on a fairly comfortable British Airways plane chatting with neighbors, sleeping, and watching movies. I chose Kung Fu Panda (which was a well-made mediocrity), and afterward listened to a BBC radio comedy that produced the following stroke of improv genius:

ANNOUNCER: Your turn, [Panelist X]. Can you fill in this log line from Brokeback Mountain: "Love is..."?
PANELIST: ...a pair of chaps.

Redeye flights are much better on a comfy plane, and BA makes 'em good. Meals, too. Though I hear Virgin Airlines is even better.

We arrived on Wednesday around 11:30 local time (GMT+4.5 in August) and had our bags by noon. Nusha and her mother and driver met us and took us through Bombay's humble-jumble array of shanty slums and grime-streaked high-rise apartments. We spent lunch at their apartment building, a homemade meal of keema (spiced ground meat) and rice with veggies and spices, plus a sort of yoghurt and cucumber side dish. We also met other parts of Nusha's family—her grandparents, her sister Shanaz, and Shanaz's son (Mehdi, 8 or 9) and daughter (Sophia, 4 or 5, and a lot of trouble).

Then it was time to hang out while Nusha, the bride-to-be, went to a make-up appointment. Afterward, we all went to a hospital across town to visit the day-old twin cousins born to another of Nusha's relatives. On the way back, we stopped several times, including at a roadside stand selling freshly roasted corn on the cob smeared with lime juice, salt, and red chili powder. Delicious! Then it was home to dine on leftovers and some fried discs of dough whose name I've forgotten.

I played with Sophia, who is altogether too cute and very mischievous. We chatted with Nusha's family and finally met her aunt Sheriz, in whose flat we were staying. End of day: we slept soundly our first night in humid, hot Bombay.

Return to Paris

As usual, it has been awhile since I've posted. First I went to the US for visa reasons, then we went to India for vacation and the wedding of two friends, and now we've been back a month and I've begun two jobs and my PhD, plus I'm once again taking my writing projects more seriously (good timing, right?)--so there's a lot of news. We'll take it one part at a time.

The visa applications went more easily than expected, given the effort required to arrange appointments, gather paperwork, and even get information. The tourist visa for India took one day to get, and that was only because I missed the morning deadline for same-day processing. The French long-stay student visa took all of thirty-five minutes, of which twenty were spent waiting to be called to present my paperwork and only fifteen were spent processing my dossier and producing the visa. W00t for efficient administration! (I've written a more detailed description of the process, but I am considering creating a separate blog for my foreign PhD experiences so that I can offer help and entertainment for others interested in the situation or hoping to pursue the same sort of path.)

India was a crazy experience, about which I wrote daily journal entries while there. I'll be posting revisions of these in the days to come.

Having returned to Paris, V has begun work at UPMC (Paris VI) again, this time as a tenured, full-time teacher. (Last year, she was a temporary, full-time teacher.) I got my carte de sejour (another story), which allows me to live and work in France, and I began work as a sort of adjunct teacher of English (language) at UPMC. I teach one class a week, and will get paid sometime early next year. I've also begun working for a company called YES (Your English Solution), which teaches English to businesses in the Paris area.

Additionally, my classes have started up. I'm taking my advisor's poetry and poetics course, which so far is interesting, and a short translation course he's teaching as well, so I can practice my French.

V had Lasik eye surgery at the beginning of September, which means that now she can see pretty much as well without glasses as she once could with glasses. There are some small side effects, some of which seem to have faded, but she and I both wish the doctor had informed us more about them, as they may have influenced the decision. (On the plus side, she's very happy to be able to snuggle without removing and protecting her glasses.)

V and I got a PACS (Pacte Civil de Solidarit&eaccute;, or French civil union) on the 2nd of September, so now we're officially living together and supporting each other. Pretty cool. It's such a potentially small thing (the document needs only contain one line about how the two of you agree to support each other, but can have more) that we weren't going to do anything for it, but our friends wanted to have a party, so we threw a small fête and got lots of wine. We don't drink much at all, so typically this means we hold onto bottles for weeks or months, until we have guests over.

I've also found a dojo that teaches Ki Aikido, and I had begun going, but our finances were low this month and last due to India+French admin fees+Lasik, so I'm holding off for now. But once things get underway a bit more and I get my paycheck, it's back on the mat for me!

I'm also learning how to better organize myself so that I can do everything I want to. I've made myself very busy, which is fun, and now I'm learning how to manage it all. I'm also teaching myself a bit of Ashtanga Yoga.

That's pretty much the update for now.